THIS WEEKEND In
the battle of the single-word-titled thrillers, Fracture
beat out Vacancy but neither could
dislodge Disturbia from the number
one spot. It was mostly a sluggish frame at the North American box office
as the top ten slumped to its third worst level of 2007 and failed to top
$70M. The courtroom thriller Fracture
and the action-comedy Hot Fuzz both
opened to respectable results while the horror pic Vacancy
and the drama In the Land of Women
generated little excitement.

Shia LaBeouf enjoyed his first back-to-back stint in the top spot with
the suspense hit Disturbia which held
up well in its sophomore frame grossing $13M, according to final
studio figures. Off only 42%, the Paramount release of a DreamWorks production
averaged a solid $4,315 from 3,015 sites. Teen-oriented thrillers typically
fall by more than 50% on the second session. Produced for a mere $23M,
Disturbia has grossed an impressive
$40.2M in its first ten days and could be headed for a $65-70M finish.

Leading the weekend's crop of new movies was the murder thriller Fracture
as ticket buyers spent $11M watching Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling go
at it. The R-rated film from New Line averaged a solid $4,509 per theater
from 2,443 sites. Reviews were mostly good which helped since the film
skewed to a mature adult audience.

Will Ferrell scored the third $100M blockbuster of his career, and second
in nine months, with Blades of Glory
which ranked third in its fourth weekend with $7.7M. Down 45%, the Paramount
title is still the widest release in the marketplace with 3,459 locations
and the cume has hit $101M. The comedy star's other trips to the century
club in a lead role were with 2003's Elf
($173.4M) and last summer's Talladega Nights
($148M).

Opening weaker than expected in the fourth slot was the horror entry
Vacancy with only $7.6M. The R-rated
pic about a couple stranded in a motel where videotaped killings take place
averaged a mild $2,982 from 2,551 playdates. Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale
star in the Sony release. Fright fatigue may have hurt Vacancy's
opening as the $19M-budgeted film was the fourth scary flick this month
to be aimed at moviegoers. Young adults made up most of the audience as
studio research showed that 66% of the crowd was under the age of 25 and
52% was female. Disturbia's better-than-expected
hold also made an impact.

Disney followed in fifth with the animated hit Meet
the Robinsons which grossed $7M in its fourth frame, down 44%,
for a total of $82.1M.

Shooting up the best average among all wide releases in the marketplace
was the new British action-comedy Hot Fuzz which
premiered to $5.8M from 825 theaters for a potent $7,089 per venue. The
R-rated buddy cop flick from the creative team behind 2004's cult hit Shaun
of the Dead earned glowing reviews and tapped into a built-in
audience of fans. Fuzz outgunned Shaun
in all ways beating the latter's September 2004 bow which delivered
$3.3M from 607 theaters for a $5,487 average. Produced for $16M, Hot
Fuzz has already grossed an impressive $48.5M overseas including
$41M from the United Kingdom.

The Ice Cube comedy sequel Are We Done Yet?
dropped two spots to seventh with $5.2M in its third weekend. Sony's family
pic fell 42% and raised its sum to $39.6M.

Close behind in eighth was the new chick flick In
the Land of Women which opened poorly with $4.7M from 2,155
theaters. Averaging a weak $2,187 per location, the PG-13 film stars Adam
Brody as a young man who meets a houseful of women when caring for his
sick grandmother. Women was the fifth
wide opener of the past two weeks to fail to reach a $3,000 average in
its debut frame.

Rounding out the top ten were two films that that have been showing
how differently starpower can affect the box office. The Halle Berry-Bruce
Willis thriller Perfect Stranger collapsed
in its second weekend and tumbled 63% to $4.1M. With only $18.1M locked
up in ten days, Sony should find its way to roughly $25M followed by a
quick trip to DVD. On the other hand, Buena Vista's blockbuster comedy
Wild Hogs starring Tim Allen and John
Travolta remained in the top ten for the eighth consecutive weekend with
$2.8M, off 40%, boosting the cume to $156.2M. It is the highest-grossing
non-Spartan film of the year.

Four films fell out of the top ten this weekend. The year's biggest
smash 300 dropped 49% to $2.3M in its
seventh adventure and lifted its staggering domestic total to $204.6M.
Budgeted at only $60M, the stylish war epic should end its North American
run with an amazing $207-210M. That would amount to nearly three times
its opening weekend gross which is rare these days for effects-driven action
films that debut with monster bows. 300's
legs have been strong overseas too where it has tallied $216.8M for a mammoth
global gross of $421M and counting.

Other R-rated films suffered horrendous drops as they tumbled out of
the top ten. Losing 63% of its audience was Fox's adventure Pathfinder
which grossed $1.9M in its second weekend. The Viking pic has collected
a puny $8.2M in ten days and looks headed for a wimpy $10M finish. Maybe
casting some Spartans would have helped.

Hilary Swank's horrorfest The Reaping
grossed $1.7M, down 64%, boosting the mild cume to $22.7M. The $53M double
feature Grindhouse crashed 68% in its
third try and took in $1.4M putting its 17-day take at $22.7M as well.
Both films should end up in the $25M vicinity.

Miramax expanded its Richard Gere drama The
Hoax from 413 to 1,069 theaters but saw weekend sales slip 16%
to $1.2M. The average was diluted down to a poor $1,150 as the cume inched
up to only $5.1M.

In limited release, Paramount Vantage widened its Molly Shannon pic
Year of the Dog from seven to 33 sites
and grossed $133,335 for a $4,040 average. Cume sits at $275,138 with more
cities being added this Friday. Fox Searchlight's The
Namesake collected $755,540 from 327 locations in its seventh
weekend averaging $2,310 for a cume of $9.8M to date.

The top ten films grossed $68.9M which was down an unsettling 27% from
last year when Silent Hill opened at
number one with $20.2M; and off 12% from 2005 when The
Interpreter debuted on top with $22.8M.

Compared to projections, Fracture
opened very close to my $12M forecast while Vacancy
was weaker than my $14M projection. Hot Fuzz
was on target with my $6M prediction, but In the
Land of Women debuted below my projection of $8M.

This column is updated three times each week:
Thursday
(upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday
(post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday
night (actuals). Opinions expressed in this column are those solely of
the author.